'Aliens with Extraordinary Skills' Has World Premiere at Women's Project

'Aliens with Extraordinary Skills,' written by Saviana Stanescu and directed by Tea Alagic, will open September 30 at 7:00pm (with a preview on September 22).  Press Previews begin Saturday, September 27, at 8:00pm at the Women's Project Theater, 424 West 55th Street.

'Aliens with Extraordinary Skills' is a world premiere dark comedy that centers on a clown from the unhappiest country in the world, Moldova, who pins her hopes on a U.S. work visa by creating balloon animals. It begins previews September 22, for a September 30, 7:00pm opening (for a run through October 26) at Women's Project, 424 West 55th Street.

'Aliens with Extraordinary Skills,' however, could just as easily be described as an historical drama: it is written and directed by both a playwright and a director who are actually aliens with extraordinary skills and is inspired by a real event.

The play is written by Saviana Stanescu, a Romanian poet, journalist and playwright who first came to the United States in 2001 under a Fulbright Scholarship. Her O1 Visa says she has "extraordinary abilities in the arts."

The director, award-winning theater artist and Bosnian emigre Tea Alagic, now has her green card, but she left, or rather escaped, her home country ten years ago for a different reason (see the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague for details).

Designed by Kris Stone (sets), Jennifer Moeller (costumes), Gina Scherr (lights), and Sarah Pickett (sound & original music), 'Aliens with Extraordinary Skills' features Shirine Babb, Seth Fisher, Gian-Murray Gianino, Kevin Isola, Natalia Payne and Jessica Pimentel, and it was inspired by a real event

Saviana Stanescu www.womensproject.org/aliens_playwright.html is one of the best know TV journalists in Romania (she's been described as the Diane Sawyer of Romania), and her plays have been produced at home and all over the world, in many languages.

Ms. Stanescu's inspiration for 'Aliens with Extraordinary Skills' came from reading American newspapers. "In Orlando, Florida, an Ukrainian and a Romanian got arrested for smuggling aliens under fake 'aliens with extraordinary skills in the circus' visas. They created a bogus circus! When those guys got caught, the illegal immigrants received deportation letters," she said.

Ms. Stanescu's plays have been widely presented internationally and in the U.S. Recent New York productions include 'Waxing West' (2007 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Full-length Script), 'YokastaS Redux' at La MaMa Theatre, 'Flag Stories' at TBG Theatre, 'Suspendida' at the Ontological Theatre, 'Balkan Blues' at the NYC Fringe Festival, 'Aurolac Blues' at HERE Arts Center and the Site-specific 'I Want What You Have' as part of Women's Project's 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fund$' at the World Financial Center. She teaches at NYU's School of the Arts. She has also published six books of poetry and drama including 'Google me!' (poetry), 'Black Milk' (four plays) and 'The Inflatable Apocalypse.'  Her own web page is www.saviana.com .

Tea Alagic is a director, writer, and actor who has worked all over the world, including Mexico City's Dramafest, Dublin's Abbey Theater Paris's Theatre du Soleil and London's Royal National Theater. She received a BFA in acting from Charles University in Prague and a MFA in directing from Yale School of Drama. She is a Soros Fellow.

Her directing credits include 'Zero Hour' (which she wrote) for Yale University Theater, 'Speaking Our Mind' for New Theater New Haven and 'The Brothers Size' by Tarrel Alvin McCraney for The Public Theater in NYC, The Studio Theater in Washington D.C, and The Abbey Theater in Dublin.